Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to hold discussions with his Pakistani counterpart to raise concerns on the recent ruling of Lahore High Court in Pakistan in favour of a man who kidnapped at gunpoint a 14-year-old Christian girl, Maira Shahbaz, and allegedly fabricated a marriage certificate and forced her to convert to Islam.

We are closely monitoring Maira Shahbaz's case following her reported abduction in April. We are concerned about women's and girls' rights and ongoing reports of forced marriage and forced conversion in Pakistan, including such reports of this happening to women and girls from religious minorities such as Hindus, Christians and Sikhs. The UK Government strongly condemns the forced marriage and forced conversion of women and girls.

We regularly raise our concerns about Freedom of Religion or Belief, women and girl's rights and gender equality with the government of Pakistan at a senior level. Most recently, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon raised our human rights concerns with Pakistan's Minister for Human Rights, Dr Shireen Mazari, on 15 July.